


Batgirl of Meridian

by Offbrand_Valk



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Yes i did just sneakily change the ship this was about 1 chapter in, alternate universe - batgirl, fair warning: I do not have a plot planned out, probably gonna be more action than romance tbh, trans!aloy, yes i decided Aloy is trans out now you had been warned
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-05 12:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12189648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Offbrand_Valk/pseuds/Offbrand_Valk
Summary: Aloy Sobeck hasn't exactly had what you'd call a normal childhood, as the only child of world renowned engineer Elisabet Sobeck, she was destiny to a life of luxury. That was all ripped away from her before she even learned to talk, and she instead became the ward of Rost Nora, the Batman.Now at the age of 21 and having completed her training, Batgirl has flown the nest to attend college in the city of Meridian like a completely normal and average girl who just happens to master 22 types of martial arts, and speak 9 languages on a conversational level.All she has to do is balance school and superheroing, not blow her cover, and find out how she feels about her ex-girlfriend/partner-in-superheroing Talanah reinserting herself into her life.Easy right?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I've been thinking about writing this for a long time, and today i decided: "you know what? Let's just go for it and see what happens."  
> Updates are probably gonna vary vastly in length and be sporadic at best cause everything is happening a lot right now

"This hunt is yours to make Aloy – yours alone. No matter what happens, I will not intervene. Do you understand? You are on your own."

Aloy didn't even have time to reply before Rost turned his back to her and walked away.

 

"Okay." She said to herself. "You can do this."

It couldn't be that different from all her practice with Rost could it?

She could do this, she was Aloy Sobeck, the goddamn batgirl! Eclipse wouldn't know what hit them!

 

Eclipse had turned an old Buddhist temple into a storehouse for some of their more expensive merchandise. From the outside Aloy could see 3 rocket launchers, a flamethrower, a crate of automatic rifles, and another crate of industrial explosives. "Guess asking nicely is out of the question then." Aloy whispered to herself.

Rost had told her Eclipse was paying a hefty rent to the army for this place, though clearly not enough to get some local security she concluded as she overheard one of the guard telling another a joke in Afrikaans. Aloy's own Afrikaans was less than flawless, but from the tone she gathered it wasn't going to be winning any feminist awards.

She didn't need to take them all out, just get in, grab the laptop, and disappear before any knew it was gone. Where was the fun in that though?

 

Khuthala fucking hated his job, he hadn't fought and killed his way across Africa to get stuck in a forest where it always rained, and watch boxes. The only thing that made the stay a little bearable was Danisa and his unending arsenal of dirty jokes.

Speaking of which, he should really have come back from investigating that noise by now, Khuthala really hoped it was rebels, he could really go for killing some farmers right about now.

He heard running footsteps behind him, and turned around just in time to see a Kevlar clad fist make contact with his nose. He fell to the ground and looked at the little cartoon birdies flying around his head.

 

Nku swore under his breath, he had taken this post for an easy paycheck, and to sleep on his post without consequence. That last part was next to impossible whenever those 2 idiots were on guard duty, they made more noise alone than a whole convoy of tanks.

Wasn't like it mattered, the locals were fast learners, after 1 lesson in what happened to people who crossed the Eclipse, they learned to stay far away from the temple.

He felt something wrap around his foot. "Be quiet." An American voice said from behind him as he was lifted off the ground legs first, screaming the whole way.

 

Another mercenary came running to assist his friend, brandishing a handgun.

Aloy rushed at him grabbing his outstretched before he had a chance to fire, and forced it off to the side.

He fired panically into the space behind her as Aloy knocked him to the ground.

She grabbed the gun with both hands and violently jerked it out of his grasp, most likely breaking a few of his fingers in the process.

 

A 3rd mercenary who had heard the commotion grabbed her by the cape.

His mistake was doing that while standing between her and a very sturdy wall.

Aloy jumped backwards off the mercenary she was just to pound senseless, and slammed the guy holding her cape into a wall.

Not hard enough she concluded, as he still had enough sense in him to wrap his arms around her.

He had both strength and size on her, and for a moment she thought he had her.

Luckily for Aloy he also had a friend just getting off the floor who wanted to punch her real bad.

She used him as a springboard to twist out of her captor's grip, summersault over his head, and kick him with both legs into his friend with the broken fingers.

They both looked about ready to pass out, but just to be sure, Aloy knocked their heads together.

At last she turned to the mercenary still dangling from the roof of the temple, and gave him her most disapproving glare. "I said: be quiet."

 

The laptop was lying on a table in the back of the main hall, next to a half-assembled machine gun and a stack of dirty magazines older than she was. Just to be sure she did a quick sweep of the temple to make sure no other surprises were waiting for her. She was almost annoyed that there wasn't.

 

Having gotten clear of the area, she put 2 fingers to her right ear to activate her communicator. "Hey Batman, I got you your laptop, if you want I can crack it for you, but there's no sign of any Faro warbots, you sure they were sold to Eclipse?"

After a moments static her adoptive dad's gruff voice came through. "Positive, and don't worry about the drives, just leave them at the drop-off and I'll take care of it."

"I'm on my way." Aloy wished she hadn't left her civilian clothes back in the safe house, carbon-fiber reinforced kevlar was great for brawling, but terrible for long treks through the jungle.

Her communicator crackled again. "Oh and Batgirl... Enjoy college."


	2. Re-Meeting Talanah

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aloy's old partner/girlfriend makes a sudden reappearance in her life, but a mess of feelings get in the way before they can properly catch up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning this chapter includes a character experiencing very intense gender dysphoria and mentions of self-harm so if you find that unpleasant etc. don't feel bad about skipping :)

College was going well, saying that a week in was probably a bit early, and a shared dorm room was a step down from the batcave, but Aloy had a good feeling about things.

That was all shattered at 2:17 am Monday of her second week of College. Most of Sobeck Hall, including Aloy and Vala were sleeping quietly. Instincts more than anything else woke her up. For a moment Aloy thought she was just being jittery after a week without fighting. Then she heard something knocking on her window.

Aloy was out of bed and ready to fight in less than a second. On the thin ledge outside her window sat a smiling Talanah, gently tapping on the glass. Aloy glanced over to Vala's bed, good, she was still sleeping.

Putting on her angriest face, she marched up to the window, fully intending to give Talanah a piece of her mind. What was the point of disappearing into the wind, leaving nothing but a hastily scribbled post-it behind, only to appear three years later on her windowsill acting like nothing had happened. She drew in a deep breath as she opened the window. Talanah was a split second faster. "Hey." She said and her eyes sparkled like the sun.

Shit.

 

Suddenly Aloy was 16 again, and sitting in the back of a pickup truck, looking out on the Autobahn while Talanah made hot chocolate on a camping stove.

They were tired and bruised, and Aloy was soaked to the bone. All of which was understandable, seeing as they had just come from preventing no less than three assassination attempts on the Chancellor in one night. One of the assassins had tried to escape by jumping into the Isar, and Aloy had given chase.

With things heating up in Munich, they had to flee the scene in a hurry, Aloy and Talanah taking off in one direction, and Rost in another with among other things Aloy's civilian clothes. Leaving her in nothing but underwear and a flannel she had borrowed from Talanah while her uniform dried on a repurposed tripwire.

Talanah kissed her forehead and handed her a cup of hot chocolate. "Are you warming up okay babe?" She asked, sitting next to her wrapped safely in her own blanket and half of her costume.

Aloy snuggled in under Talanah's arms, and sighed deeply. "I am now." She replied, slurping chocolate. Talanah squeezed her gently, and laid her head on top of Aloy's. "I'm sure you are." she teased.

The night grew colder, the chocolate ran out, the stars became brighter, and Aloy and Talanah cuddled closer. Aloy couldn't remember ever having been so happy in her life before.

How did she end up on the roof of the Sobeck building?

 

Right, because all it had taken to get her to grab her grapple gun, was for Talanah to suggest they finish their talk somewhere other than next to her snoring roomie. The night sky reminded her of that time by the Autobahn, and her head had already found its usual spot on Talanah's shoulder. All they needed was a blanket and it would be perfect.

It was so fucking easy to fall back into old habits.

The conscious part of Aloy was screaming and begging her to abort mission. Her body didn't react, too caught up in its longing for intimacy. Talanah's lips tasted like home and ice-cold water after running a marathon.

Aloy grabbed unto Talanah's hoodie, and pulled her closer for dear life. Their kissing grew more heated, Aloy's mouth gradually moving from Talanah's lips to her neck and clavicle, whilst Talanah moved into her lap. She ground her hips against Aloy, and for the span of a deep, drawn-out moan Aloy really enjoyed it.

Aloy felt a familiar tightening in her pants, which Talanah took as her cue to increase her pace to the point where she was dry-humping her. 3 years ago, that would have been the right choice, no questions asked. Now it served to give Aloy a sense of overwhelming dread, and the strength to come back to her senses.

She pushed Talanah off her a lot rougher than she had meant to, and retreated towards the door into the building. "I'm sorry, I... I gotta go, class tomorrow." She deliberately didn't stick around to see her ex's response, just rushed back to her dorm room as fast as her feet could carry her.

 

She was valid. She was loved. She had an intense experience and it didn't know how she felt about it. She just needed to get some sleep and it would all be better in the morning.

If she kept telling herself that, it had to be true, right?

She had forgotten she shared her room with Vala, it was all wrong, she couldn't subject Vala to that. Vala deserved better than to have a gross creep sleeping in the same room with her.

God she was so tired.

Aloy had a sleeping bag in her car, he, no she, could just sleep there. He quickly made room on the floor of his van, he'd slept in worse place, he could do this.

Shit no, she, she could do this!

 

He curled into a ball, and tried to push back the tears. He was a spoiled heir, throwing away his inheritance to pursue a sick fetish, and wasting estrogen from those who needed it.

He should cry, had a duty to cry, for invading women's safe-spaces, for forcing his way into a dorm room with a woman who had no idea she was sharing her space with a perverted man, for manipulating a lesbian into thinking she loved him, and using that fake love to coerce her into sex and intimacy.

Why wouldn't the tears come? He needed to hurt himself, two fingers down his throat was gross and painful like he deserved, and if he just did it outside the car, people would just think someone had been drinking too much on a Monday. Like the useless fucking child he was, he couldn't even go through with that.

He couldn't even move properly around on the floor, he was sore for no reason.

He was a disgusting liar. He couldn't do anything right. He barely deserved the right to live.

He.

He.

He.

He fell asleep sobbing snot into her sleeping bag.

 

* * *

 

Her alarm woke her up at 15 past 6, because of course she had forgotten to turn it off. Everything still hurt, and reaching out to turn it off felt like a march across the Sahara.

That whole going to class thing? Yeah that wasn't happening today. She might just be able to text Vala that she hadn't been kidnapped before noon, no guarantees.

First she needed her back to stop aching, and her mouth not to feel full of glass shards for three seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can also find me on tumblr at https://offbrand-valk.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> You're welcome to come talk to me on my tumblr at offbrand-valk.tumblr.com/


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